


Education

by Magpied_Spider



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - His Dark Materials, Gen, School, Stanford Era, well sorta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-03
Updated: 2014-07-03
Packaged: 2018-02-07 06:48:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,428
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1888992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Magpied_Spider/pseuds/Magpied_Spider
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam's schooling throughout the years, from when he was just a kid all the way to Stanford.</p><p>---</p><p>School has always been difficult for Sam: he loves learning, yes, but the kids are a different story. Being the New Kid meant having to figure out where you fit into the hierarchy of the yard, and with the training that he and Tio have, it is always a difficult balancing act between getting into a fight and not letting them be pushed around.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Education

“… Sam Winchester? I need accommodation papers, if it’s not too late to register”

“Give me a moment.” The secretary, whose badge read ‘CALLUM’, took a file from his ferret-dæmon’s mouth. “W… W… Winchester… Yeah, you’re right here. You’re lucky, applications close in tomorrow.” He gave him the papers, most of which Sam still needed to fill out. His courses were all set out, but accommodation wasn’t, and there were a number of forms that needed to be completed before that.

“Is it ok if I fill these out here, or do I have to take them away?”

The man smiled at him. “Nah, just do them here.”

 ** _Name (Human, Dæmon):_** _Samuel Winchester, Tiordy_ ****  
Date of Birth: 2 May 1983 ****  
Dæmon species: West Canadian Moose ****  
On-campus accommodation required:

There were two boxes next to ‘yes’ and ‘no’. Sam ticked the ‘yes’.

**_If yes, accommodation requirements:_ **

Sam stopped for a moment. “What’s that mean, accommodation requirements?”

Callum-the-secretary smiled at him again. “That’s for people with dæmons like horses, or whatever, that need double doors. I as –“ he stopped, looking over his desk, down at the floor beside his feet worriedly. “Where – where’s your dæmon?”

“Oh, he’s outside in the quad. He wouldn’t fit through the door, so…” Callum didn’t seem placated, and he glanced towards the door.

“That’s so far away, though, aren’t you uncomfort-“

Sam laughed softly. “We’re separated, it’s fine. I should probably put ‘high ceilings and wide doors’ here, though.”

He did so.

**_Note: Efforts will be made to accommodate students with large dæmons, however Stanford University makes no guarantees regarding classes. If any issues do arise, students are encouraged to speak to their teachers._ **

 

* * *

 

School has always been difficult for Sam: he loves learning, yes, but the kids are a different story. Being the New Kid means having to figure out where you fit into the hierarchy of the yard, and with the training that he and Tio have, it is always a difficult balancing act between getting into a fight and not letting them be pushed around.

Sometimes, it happens like this:

The kid, Darrin, or maybe Dennis, has an mongrel-dog-shaped dæmon by the name of Nycrus, or perhaps Nilocran, and is clearly the leader of the three boys that have decided to show Sam and Tio that they were boss. Sam faces them, Tio a ferret, bristling but not aggressive.

“So you’ve got a boy-dæmon, then?” The boy to the left, whose name is either Kevin or Colin, gives a cough that sounds suspiciously like ‘gay’, his pit bull dæmon flashing rainbow-coloured before shifting to a Rottweiler. A growling bull terrier accompanies the boy on the right, whose name is possibly Jed but probably Jake.

These insults are variations on a theme to Sam, who shifts the grip he has on his bag in such a way that would allow him to swing it as a weapon if he were attacked. “Yeah, what of it?”

Tio stares at the three dog-dæmons growling at him, and very deliberately jumps from his perch on Sam’s shoulders, shifting to a husky. He growls, low enough to be ignored, but not low enough for the boys to allow the challenge to stand.

The mongrel-dæmon - not quite as big as Tiordy, but large enough - attacks first, followed a few moments later by the Rottweiler and bull terrier. The boys, at the same time, go for Sam.

Sam, while not as trained as Dean, is undeniably a skilled fighter. He dodges the attack. He continues to dance around, trying not to actually fight, and hoping that a teacher will make their way over as soon as possible.

Tiordy and the three dog-dæmons are in a scrape, with the husky-now-a-tiger pulling his blows. He knocks one boy’s dæmon across the hall, and the child she is connected to – the one who was either Jerome or Jared – gives a cry of pain and runs over, leaving the fight in favour of stopping the pain in his body caused by the distance between himself and his dæmon.

The other two draw back, although they are by no means giving in. Their dæmons draw to their sides, the mongrel turning to a Doberman and the Rottweiler licking its scratches. Their eyes narrow, and the smaller child that has not yet landed any blows himself – Sam – his dæmon draws back towards his human as well, but he has changed from the tiger into a marten, and is clambering up his trouser to his shoulder.

Sam maintains eye contact with the two-that-were-three, and says something to the effect of, “I’m new here, yes. I don’t really want to get into any trouble. You guys kinda look like the sort of guys that are in detention every week, so I’m sure that doesn’t matter to you, but I’d actually like to get along for the weeks I’m here without making a mark on the disciplinary system. I don’t want a fight, but I’ll fight if I have to.”

They don’t bother him again.

 

* * *

 

He received a lot of strange looks in his first lecture, and they put him in mind of the kids that used to clear out of his way when Tio had settled when they were 15 and he had to stay outside – the instinctual aversion to anything different, to anything _other_. He’s gone through a few methods of dealing with it, from faking a dæmon up his sleeve to going right up to them and saying ‘is there a problem, guys?’, but today’s a new start, and he just lets the comments and speculation settle behind him.

A mental prod from Tio makes him look out the window, and Sam smiles when he sees his dæmon on the quadrangle grass, talking to the dragonfly-dæmon of a guy about their age.

 _He’s in two of your classes,_ Tio informs him, _Come say hello._

 

* * *

 

 

Once, it happens like this:

The kid’s name is probably Rick, or Rich (Someone once made a quip about ‘Dick’ a few months back, but they were beaten up behind the equipment shed the day afterwards, so the key word there is _once_ ), and he’s the leader of a small group. They’re gearing up for a fight, and don’t really care who the victim is.

There’s also a new kid, name of Sam Winchester, and he has a dæmon that is the same sex as he is, so he’s made an immediate target.

Rick's small group stop him, and there are words exchanged, and then, a little later, blows. Some connect, some don’t, and the dæmons of all involved set upon the kid’s, and one of these dæmons, no one’s really sure whose, decides that what they should do is get the kids to hold Sam down while they throw his dæmon down the hall.

It’s perfect, because it won’t leave any marks as evidence, and the kid’s dæmon is swapping forms as it jumps, biting at them, swiping with claws and teeth, and it’s not long before he’s something small enough to grab. The now-cat-dæmon is grabbed by one of the dæmons that has shifted into something resembling a gorilla, and the kids jump on him as their dæmons stretch to the edge of the ring they can get and throw the cat through the air.

He flies all the way down the hall, at least fifty feet, but the kid doesn’t cry out in pain, and neither does the dæmon. Instead, the kid just kicks out, and manages to get out of the grips of his captors, while his dæmon trots back to him.

The kid gets a look on his face that says ‘You guys seemed very comfortable in attempting to cause the worst kind of pain imaginable to me, so prepare for me to not hold back’.

The rest of the fight in the corridor results in several broken noses, some fractured arms, and two dæmons that had internal bruising from being hit by the large paws of the dæmon of the New Kid.

 

* * *

 

Brady and his dragonfly-dæmon took it upon themselves to make Sam and Tio aware of the life stories surrounding the various students as they walked through the campus.

"That's Harrison," Brady would say, as a young, nerdy-looking guy with a beagle dæmon on his heels walked past, "And I shit you not, _every single person_ in his family has a beagle for a dæmon."

Some things sounded like they could be true, but it took about ten minutes for Sam and Tio to agree that he was pulling everything out of thin air.

"Matthias has a bird for a dæmon because he was in one of those rapid-change contests that you have when you're a kid, and he changed so fast that he used up all the swaps that kids dæmons get, and he got stuck..."

* * *

 

Generally though, it tends to go more along the lines of:

The kid’s name doesn’t really matter, because there’s going to be another one at the next school, and the next, but the important thing is his dæmon is gearing up for a fight, and Sam’s sure at this point that it’s probably going to end in blood.

The shout comes from down the hallway, or across the yard, and there’s another kid a few years older, and he’s calling out “Sammy? Is that you?”

Sam grimaces, because the kids in the class will be calling him that for the rest of his time here no matter how much he asks them to stop, but the grimace doesn’t last long because he’s now sure that there’s not going to be a fight at all.

“Dean,” he says, “I can handle myself.”

“These punks giving you trouble?” Dean’s close enough that the fact that people are moving aside for his dæmon becomes apparent, and the wolf has a look in her that tells anyone with eyes that if anyone has messed with this child, shit will be going down.

The small group makes general noises of ‘definitely not’ and ‘who, no, not us, surely?’, but more often than not, there’s one particular individual who will say something along the lines of “yeah, and what are _you_ going to do about it, big shot?”.

It is at this point that Otsandi, the wolf-dæmon of Dean, will step out in front, and fix a glare at this particular individual’s dæmon, who is usually some medium to large sized canine, often with teeth to match. She will half-raise her hackles, and growl, lowly, and more often than not the dæmon will turn into something about half the size of their previous shape and crawl back to their human.

On the one occasion when this did not occur, the dog (it was a Rhodesian ridgeback at the time) actually snarled back at the wolf, her human fixing a gaze at Dean that clearly said ‘I’m out for a fight, so for god’s sake throw a punch’.

At this point, both the dæmons sprang, but the fact that Otsandi had thick fur made it difficult for this dæmon to land a bite on her, and the strong jaws, larger size, and the wealth of fighting experience at the back of the wolf did not make it a fair fight at all.

The ridgeback-dæmon was on her back in the space of two seconds, Otsandi having pinned her, teeth around her throat. The dæmon capitulated, turning into a fox and slinking behind her human, who picked her up, and made a tactical retreat.

The conversation that follows either sort of these encounters in which Dean intervenes tend to follow the pattern of Sam protesting (while wearing either bitchface #6 or #7) that he didn’t need the help, thank you very much, Dean laughing, and Otsandi whacking Sam’s leg with a wag of her tail.

Tio may or may not jump on Sandi’s head, and the rumour mill will work to making sure that every person and their dæmon knows that there are two new kids, the older one has a wolf-dæmon, and the younger one has a dæmon that can turn into a tiger, and if you mess with either, you’re probably not going to get home safe.

 

* * *

 

 

A girl in one of his classes has a hippopotamus for a dæmon – it’s smaller than a real one, but still far larger than the average size.

They’re not separated, and Sam feels a pang of sympathy for her as she walks into the lecture theatre a few minutes late (every day, because she has to wait for the halls to be clear enough for her dæmon to walk through).

He considered talking to her, but she seems to know another girl, who sits in the front row and has a seagull-dæmon, and that girl always saves her a seat.

 

* * *

 

 

Once Tio’s settled, school’s a different story.

For all they’d joked about riding him to the campus, the fact of the matter was that none of the schools in the small towns that Sam and Dean ended up in had corridors wide enough for a moose dæmon to get through without banging into lockers, doors, and, probably, people.

They’ve been Separated for as long as they could remember, though, so it’s not exactly a difficult decision to make: Tio can stay at whatever motel it is they’re staying at, and read books in large print (it would have been nice if moose had good eyesight, but you can’t have everything), or watch TV, and he and Sam can practice their long-range communication.

They’ll get a few weird looks, they decide, but it’s not as if they’re a drooling mess: they’re not _severed_ , they’re just separate. Because moose do not fit in high school halls, and even if they did, they sure wouldn’t fit through the door.

Dean doesn’t protest, but he does say, “Are you two _sure_ about this?” In a concerned tone, and doesn’t appear mollified when they assure him that they are.

The corridor is crowded, as always, kids and their dæmons at that awkward stage where some of them have settled, and are trying not to be stepped on or look like they’re just being assholeish by taking any form larger than a Chihuahua, and some of them are trying to prove a point or be cool or pushy or whatever and have their dæmons as large as a medium-sized dog and just push through the crowd, and in all the chaos no one notices one kid who doesn’t have a pair of wings or talons or paws accompanying him.

He speaks quickly to the teacher after the bell goes and the students shuffle in, and her barn owl dæmon is distracted enough keeping an eye on the children that it carries over, and she overlooks his lack of dæmon, and instead hands him a book with an apple on it, which she tells him they are analysing in English, but don’t worry, they’re only five chapters in, and hands him a spare schedule. She asks if he wants to sit down now, or later, and he says that it’ll be easier if he stays up here, rather than awkwardly take someone’s seat.

She nods, and walks out from behind her desk.

 

That kid doesn’t have a dæmon _what the hell is he_ that’s just wrong, man _maybe she’s just shy or something_ dude, he doesn’t have a fucking dæmon _that is unsettling_ it’s like something out of a horror movie _holy crap_

 _And so begins my first day at another school I’ll be at for two weeks and then leave with no forwarding address_ , thought Sam. _Maybe I should tell them you’re a shark, and you have to be kept in a tank at home._

_That seems a bit far-fetched. Wait, what sort of shark?_

_They probably wouldn’t know enough about sharks to ask. Maybe a hammerhead._

He entered the classroom alone, trailing in after a kid with a spaniel and another with a dove, making his way towards the teacher, a woman with a frigate bird sitting on a perch next to her.

“Hi, I’m… I’m Sam Winchester, I’m new here.”

The woman’s eyes rose from the papers he was looking through, before widening at the lack of his dæmon. She opened her mouth to speak, and Sam added, “My dæmon’s at home, I wasn’t sure they’d fit through the door.” The teacher nodded, and glanced at the clock.

“Hey, go and shut the door, then introduce yourself to the class.”

Sam walked over to the door, the cat-dæmon chasing another kid’s sparrow-dæmon across the floor taking one look at him and fleeing back to their humans. Shutting the door, he returned to the front of the now-quiet class.

“Hi, I’m Sam Winchester, I’m new. My family travels around a lot, so I’ll probably be gone again in a few weeks. My dæmon’s name is Tio, and he’s settled as a moose, so he’s way too big to fit through the doors, and he tends to stay at home and read books while I have to go to school.” He looked at the teacher, in case she wanted him to say any more, and at her nod sat down at one of the empty desks.

A sparrow-dæmon flew onto his desk while the teacher’s back was turned.  
“Hey, we’re really not supposed to talk while class is on, Ms B’s a bit strict about it, but she doesn’t really worry about what our dæmons do, so I figured it’d be safe if I came over to talk to you rather than Lukas, but anyway, do you wanna hang out at lunch?”  
Sam nodded at the small bird, who gave the sort of grin that a beak shouldn’t allow and flew back to a boy a few desks across, before turning into a rabbit. Sam directed a grin at the pair.

Maybe this school wouldn’t be so bad.

 

“… so yeah, basically while I was walking down the corridor, we were having an argument about whether or not I could convince the school that Tio was actually a shark that we had to keep in a massive tank in our house.”

Lukas laughed. “But seriously, a moose?”

“That’s what _I_ said when he settled. I mean, doorways!”

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a dæmon that big. I mean, Patrilantia can only get to… what was it?”

“I once managed to get to a snow leopard, but I couldn’t keep it,” offered the sparrow.

“I think my family has a history of larger dæmons,” said Sam. “I mean, I don’t really know the rest of my family, but my dad’s dæmon is pretty big, and Dean’s is really big.”

“Is Dean your brother?”

“Yeah, he’s a senior. Or, you know, he will be a senior for as long as we’re here.”

“That must kinda suck, having to move around all the time.”

“Well, it means that I know all sorts of disconnected facts. Like, for instance, I can tell you all about navigating with a great circle, or the themes of the Giver, but I didn’t learn about the solar system until… ooh, a year ago? I felt a little like I’d been leading a lie my whole life.”

The bell rang, and movement filled the yard as the students and their dæmons began to return to their lockers. It did not go unnoticed that there was a small path cleared around Sam, the child without a dæmon.

“Sam, the French classroom’s this way!”

He made a quick about-face and followed after Lukas, who promised that the French teacher would probably be understanding about the fact that he’d never spoken a word of the language before.

 

* * *

 

 

“…and this is my friend Jessica.” Brady looked particularly pleased as he introduced them, dragonfly-dæmon buzzing, the noise of the bar they were in a bubbling background. “Jess, this is Sam. He’s pre-law.”

The blonde smiled at him, her dæmon wagging his tail. He was some sort of golden-furred dog – a little bit like a fluffy greyhound.

Tio bent his head down to him. “I’m Tiordy, generally Tio,” he said.

“Mwelly,” replied the canine, “short for Muelthan.”

Sam shook the girl’s hand. “Sam Winchester,” he said.

“Jess Moore. I swear I’ve seen you around, but I can’t have.”

“Why not?”

“I’m pretty sure I would have remembered a moose walking around behind you.”

Sam gave a laugh. “You might have seen me, but I’m sure I’d remember a girl as beautiful as you walking around campus.” He smiled at her, dimples a-dimpling. “Do you want some chips?”


End file.
